Magazines group Future today claimed to have passed a “significant inflection point” as more than half of advertising now comes from digital, with growth from new revenue streams offsetting falls in print.

How does she find the time? As a judge for the Samuel Johnson Prize, Londoner’s Diary pin-up Mary Beard had to race through more than 150 non-fiction books submitted for the award. Now — only two days after her Johnson judgeship came to an end — the Cambridge classicist is about to embark on another literary marathon as she ploughs through 150 or so submissions for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize).

Are literary agents going out of fashion? The bestselling thriller writer Ken Follett has sent shock waves through the publishing industry by dispensing with his long-time literary middlemen. “I can confirm that after almost 40 years of mutually beneficial collaboration, Ken Follett amicably parted company with his agent Writers House LLC and all of its co-agents,” says a spokesman for the millionaire novelist.